Frame cleaning device utilizing exhaust air from a suction cleaner in spinning and like operations



Jam 30, 1962 KENJI HIJIYA ETAL 3,018,503

FRAME CLEANING DEVICE UTILIZING EXHAUST AIR FROM A SUCTION CLEANER IN SPINNING AND LIKE OPERATIONS Filed nec. 27, 195e 4 sheets-sheet 1 me/WM5 www pq? 3,018,503 FRAME CLEANING DEVICE UTILIZINC EXHAUST AIR FROM A sUCTIoN CLEANER IN SPINNING AND LIKE Filed Dec. 27, 1956 Jan. 30, 1962 KEN." HIJIYA ETAL OPERATIONS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 EIR-JR- JEAJkS-'RJQQL-AL Jan. 30, 1962 FRAME CLEANING DEVICE UTILIZING EXHAUST AIR FROM A SUCTION CLEANER IN SPINNING AND LIKE OPERATIONS Filed Dec. 27, 1956 KENJI HlJlYA ETAL 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 3,018,503 FRAME CLEANING DEVICE UTILIZING EXHAUST AIR FROM A SUCTION CLEANER IN SPINNING AND LIKE OPERATIONS Filed Dec. 2'?, 1956 Jan- 30, 1962 KEN." HIJIYA ETAL 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 3,018,503 FRAME CLEANING DEVICE UTILIZING EXHAUST FRM A SUCTIQN CLEANER IN SPINNING AND LIKE UPERATINS Kenji Hijiya, Amagasaki City, and Kazuyoshi Ohawa, Suita City, Japan, assignors to Nihon Spindle Seize Kabushiiii Kaisha, Amagasaki City, Iapan Filed Dec. 27, 1956, Ser. No. 630,907 7 Claims. (Cl. 15-312) This invention relates to a device for cleaning a frame by discharging thereover exhaust air from a suction cleaner which collects end-down yarn in spinning and like operations.

Heretofore, for cleaning a frame of this kind, a moving blower device having a blower or a fan driven by a separate motor has been used. There are, however, various defects in such arrangement in that additional expense is required to construct it and in that an air conditioning means is necessary to control the temperature and humidity of the blowing air.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an effective and economical device of this kind whereby the above-mentioned defects inherent in the conventional device are avoided.

The present invention is characterized in that a duct receiving exhaust air from the usual suction cleaner extends longitudinally of the frame at a selected elevation of the frame, that is, in the upper part or in the middle part of the frame, or on the floor, and a carriage provided with blowing nozzles to discharge the exhaust air onto selected portions of the frame is connected in air-tight relation to the duct and is reciproc'ated longitudinally of the frame so as to clean the selected components of the frame by directing thereagainst the exhaust air supplied to said nozzles.

The accompanying drawings diagrammatically show the present invention and its embodiments, in which:

FIGURE l is a side view diagrammatically illustrating one embodiment of the invention wherein the carriage is moved directly along the duct;

FIGURE 2 is an elevation of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a transverse sectional view of the means connecting the carriage to the duct;

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the connecting means;

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal sectional View of the connecting means;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the means connecting the carriage to the duct;

FIGURE 7 is a partly side elevation view, partly in section, showing the carriage and the duct as connected in such a manner as to telescope one inside the other;

FIGURE 8 is a transverse-sectional elevation of the connecting means of FIG. 7;

FIGURE 9 is a plan view showing an embodiment wherein the groove of the duct is closed by an endless belt to which the carriage is fixed;

FIGURE l0 is a side elevation View, partly in section, of the same; and FIGURE ll is a transverse sectional View of the same.

The most important point of the features of the present invention is that the duct is always `connected to the discharge or outlet of the suction cleaner, and the air discharged from the suction cleaner is used for the blow cleaning of the frame. For this purpose, the duct of the present invention is connected to the high pressure side of the collected dust separator of the suction cleaner. The details of the present invention shall be explained with reference to the drawings in the following.

Bld Patented Jan. 30, 1962 In FIGS. l to 5, a collected dust separator JI which is a part of a suction cleaner is provided with a blower 2 so that end-down, cotton lly, and dusts maybe sucked out of a sucking duct on the suction cleaner, and substances such as cotton fly and dusts may be separated and caught in said separator I While exhaust air free from such solid substances may be discharged out of the separator at the high pressure side thereof.

A duct 3 for transmitting the compressed air for cleaning is connected to the discharge outlet of the separator and is extended longitudinally along a row of creels 4 arranged on the frame. A slot 5 extends along the upper surface of duct 3. Elastic plates or strips 6 and 6', of suitable flexible material such as rubber, are provided along the whole length of the slot S on both edges thereof, and strips 6 and 6 have inwardly bent flaps on their inner edges normally in close air-tight contact with each other by virtue of their elasticity. A carriage '7 is mounted on the uper surface of the duct 3 so as to be freely reciprocally movable by rollers 8. A plow shape air inlet tube 9 provided in the carriage '7 is inserted between the bent flaps of elastic strips 6 and 6,' so as to supply the air from the duct 3 to the tube 9. Also, the air tube 9 is connected to air tubes 10 provided in the carriage 7. The air tubes 10 are bent downwards on both right and left sides to form blowing tubes or nozzles Il so that the air may be discharged against the creels 4 and other parts of the frame.

`The relation between the bent flaps of the elastic or flexible strips 6 and 6' and the air inlet tube 9 is, as shown in FIG. 5, such that, at the part where the air tube 9 is located, the bent flaps may be spread just sufficiently to embrace the tube 9 so as to remain in close contact with the outside wall of air inlet tube 9 and thus to maintain an air-tight connection between the tube 9 and the duct at that part, and that in those parts fore and aft of tube 9, the bent aps of elastic strips 6 and 6 are in direct close contact with each other so as to close the duct air-tight at that part. That is to say, the duct 3 may be kept air-tight wherever the air sucking tube 9 may move along the groove 5 of the duct 3.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, a long slot IZ is provided on the under surface of the duct 193. A belt-shaped elastic plate I3 air-tightly closes the slot l2.

A carriage I4 extends through slot I2 and engages the underside of elastic plate I3 in such a manner as to be freely reciprocable along duct 3. Air collecting ports 15 are provided on the sides of carriage 14 so that air entering through ports I5 may be blown through the blowing nozzles I6 for the blow cleaning function. This embodiment is well adapted to clean the central part of the frame and the floor surface.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the duct 203- is of a length about half as long as the whole length of the frame and has an air-tight t in the tubular part 17 of the carriage, as through the medium of an air seal 200, so that said tubular part I7 may reciprocate together with the carriage along the frame. For this reciprocation, rollers `I8 are provided on the duct 203 and rollers 2li are provided on the upper brackets I9 of the frame. Both ends of the tubular part 17 of the carriage are bent sidewise to form bent parts ZI. Blowing nozzles 22 are formed at the lower ends of bent parts 21 so as to discharge compressed air from duct 206 and to thereby clean the frame.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 9 to ll, a duct 303 is provided over the whole length of the part of the frame to be cleaned. An air discharge slot 23 extends o along the whole length of the upper surface of the duct 303. Slot 23 is closed by an endless belt 25 trained over a pair of rollers 24 located within the duct 303. A car- 3 riage 26 is xed to a part of the endless belt 25. An air discharge tube 27 provided on the carriage 26 communicates with the inside of the duct 303 by means of an air inlet tube 2S. Blowing nozzles Z9 are provided at the ends of tube 27 so as to clean the frame.

In the drawing, a numeral 34 indicates a duct for the suction cleaner; 35 indicates a nozzle or flute thereof; 3', 2013 and 303 indicate the suction ducts in other positions; and 3, 203 and 303 indicate the carriage in each case.

In the operation of a conventional blow cleaner, where additional power is required to provide the blowing air, the temperature of the blowing air rises. As a result, accumulation of heat for the blower motor, etc. results in interference with any air conditioning. On the contrary in the respective embodiments of the invention detailed above, no power is required to blow the air for cleaning the frame, and the blow cleaning is elected by utilizing the air exhausted from the suction cleaning device, maintaining the air conditioning uniform and undisturbed.

According to the present invention, as described above, by utilizing the discharged air of the suction cleaner, which used to be wasted, spinning and like machines can be always kept clean, troubles in cleaning can be avoided, flying cotton adhering to the product can be reduced and the quality of the product can be improved. Compared with any conventional moving blower device having a blower driven by a motor, the device according to this invention is simpler in construction and much more reliable and inexpensive in operation. Further, in general, any frame of a group of frames must be renovated at intervals, stopping the same at such times. In case the group is equipped with a single conventional cleaning device for the frames in common, all frames rnust be stopped for renovating a single frame belonging to the group. Thus the renovating of the successive frames requires a continued stopping of the all frames, resulting in the overall operating eiciency of the machines being lowered substantially. In addition, the reeled products on the bobbins may be spoiled by the strong wind blown by the cleaning device during the continued stopping and it is necessary to restore them to the previous condition individually to resume the operation. However, if individual frames are equipped with the cleaning devices according to this invention, respectively, renovating of any frame does not require the stopping of all frames of the group but requires the stopping of only the single frame to be renovated, other frames being left in operation. Thus, of course, such troubles as above so far encountered can be eliminated and the operating efficiency of the whole machines can be kept at a high level.

In the device of the present invention, the danger which is caused by ignitable cotton fly accumulated on the electric parts and sparks thereof in conventional devices is eliminated. Thus the operation can be made safer. The carriage can be connected to any proper part of the machine by means of belting or the like and can be moved automatically.

Having detailed and ascertained the nature of the present invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is:

1. In combination with textile machinery including an elongated upright support frame, a suction duct extending longitudinally of said frame beneath the top thereof for suction cleaning of debris from the machinery, a suction blower connected to said suction duct, and a separator connected to the outlet for air under pressure from the suction blower: blow cleaning apparatus comprising a relatively rigid duct extending longitudinally of said frame and connected at one end to the discharge outlet of said separator to receive such air under pressure therefrom; a carriage reciprocable longitudinally of the upper portion of said frame substantially parallel to said duct in support relation with the latter, said carriage having air inlet means in continuous communication with the interior of said duct throughout the range of movement of said carriage and constituting the sole operative outlet of said duct; flexible sealing means maintaining an airtight seal between said duct and said inlet means during relative movement of said duct and said inlet means and secured to one thereof; and discharge nozzle means on said carriage in communication with said air inlet means and effective to discharge the air under pressure, received from said duct through said air inlet means, onto the textile machinery to blow clean the latter.

2. In combination with textile machinery including an elongated upright support frame, a suction duct extending longitudinally of said frame beneath the top thereof for suction cleaning of debris from the machinery, a suction blower connected to said suction duct, and a separator connected to the outlet of the suction blower and having a discharge outlet for air under pressure from the suction blower: blow cleaning apparatus comprising a relatively rigid duct extending longitudinally of said frame and connected at one end to the discharge outlet of said separator to receive such air under pressure therefrom, said duct having a slot extending longitudinally thereof; flexible sealing means extending along said slot and normally effecting an air-tight closure thereof; a carriage reciprocable longitudinally of the upper portion of said frame substantially parallel to said duct in support relation with the latter; air inlet means on said carriage extending through said slot and continuously cooperable with said flexible means, throughout the range of movement of said carriage, to maintain said duct air-tight except for air under pressure from said duct entering said air inlet means; and discharge nozzle means on said carriage in communication with said air inlet means and effective to discharge the air under pressure, received from said duct through said air inlet means, onto the textile machinery to blow clean the latter.

3. Blow cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim l including rollers on said carriage supporting said carriage on said duct.

4. Blow cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which said duct has a flat wall formed with said slot extending substantially centrally therealong; said ilexible sealing means comprising a pair of normally flat elongated strips of ilexible material each secured to the inner surface of said duct ilat Wall and extending across said slot, said strips having a width such that they engage each other at substantially the center line of said slot and have inwardly bent aps in juxtaposed air-tight relation by virtue of the flexibility and normal atness of said strips; said air inlet means including a nozzle, plow shape in cross section, extending between said bent aps and spreading the ilaps apart while the latter remain in sealing engagement with the exterior surface of said nozzle.

5. Blow cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which said duct has a -flat wall formed with said slot extending centrally therealong; said tlexible sealing means comprising a llexible strip within said duct lying against the inner surface of said flat wall and covering said slot in air-tight relation therewith; said air inlet means comprising a tubular element within said duct extending transversely thereof and open at each end, the tubular element having a fiat surface engaging the inner surface of said wall and an arched surface engaging the outer Surface of said flexible strip in air-tight relation; said air inlet means further including a nozzle extending through said slot and communicating with said tubular element.

6. Blow cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim l in which the other end of said duct is open; said air inlet means comprising an elongated tube slidably telescoped over said duct and having a closed outer end; said dis- 5 charge nozzle means being provided at each end of said elongated tube.

7. Blow cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which said duct has a at wall formed with said slot extending longitudinally thereof; said `iiexible sealing means comprising `an endless belt of ilexible material mounted Within said duct and having a run in air-tight sealing relation with said slot; said air inlet means including a duct extending in air-tight sealing relation through such run of said endless flexible belt and communicating with the interior of said duct.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Miller et al. July 25, 1950 Holtzclaw Oct. 10, 1950 Hermanek Feb. 12, 1952 Ramm Apr. 14, 1953 Holtzclaw Apr. 21, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain 1905 Belgium July 15, 1950 'France Dec. 15, 1954 

